Captain Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique survived four dropped catches to hit half centuries as Pakistan grinded to 259 for five against world champion South Africa on the opening day of the second and final test on Monday.
Masood, put down on 71, scored bulk of his runs in singles before falling for 87 off 176 balls in the final session on a dry wicket that is expected to favor the spinners more and more.
Kagiso Rabada should have dismissed Shafique off his fourth ball of the test match, but had to wait for his first wicket until late on the first day when he trapped Mohammad Rizwan (19) plumb lbw on the backfoot.
Left-hander Saud Shakeel was batting on 42 and Salman Ali Agha was not out on 10 at stumps as South Africa could get just one wicket with the second new ball late on Day 1.
Surprisingly South Africa used its best bowler in the first test – Senuran Muthusamy – for only two brief spells of two overs each. Keshav Maharaj (2-63) and Simon Harmer (2-75) kept the scoring rate under control by sharing 54 overs in between them. Muthusamy had bagged career-best 11-wicket haul at Lahore on a spin wicket.
Shafique’s (57) luck finally ran out after getting dropped on 0, 15 and 41 when he feathered a catch down the legside to wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, but South Africa had to review the not out on-field decision as ultra edge showed a clear spike when the ball passed Shafique’s bat.
South Africa’s scrappy fielding allowed Masood and Shafique to add 111 runs for the second wicket stand after spinners created several chances in the first two sessions but got little support from the fielders.
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Maharaj, who missed South Africa’s 93-run defeat in the first test last week, had to wait until his 20th over for his first wicket when he dismissed Babar Azam for 16 in the most productive second session for the visitors in which they got two wickets for 82 runs.
Babar, who hasn’t scored an international century since his hundred against Nepal in an ODI in August 2023, hit three boundaries against the spinners in his brief 19-minute stay at the wicket before he was caught one-handed by a diving Tony de Zorzi at forward short leg.
Earlier, Shafique had three reprieves after Masood won the all-important toss and Pakistan reached 95-1 at lunch. Shafique was dropped by Tristan Stubbs at third slip off Rabada’s fourth ball, before he’d scored. Then Marco Jansen’s sharp delivery beat the inside edge of Shafique’s bat, but the bails didn’t fall after the ball grazed the off stump.
Maharaj could have made an early impact but failed to grab a return catch to his left in his first over after inducing an outside edge off Shafique’s bat. And luck continued to go Shafique’s way when he was adjudged leg before wicket against Maharaj but went for a successful television review as replays suggested the ball had hit his bat first.
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Amongst all those nervy moments for Shafique, Masood smashed two sixes against Harmer’s off-spin and welcomed Muthusamy with another big hit over the long-on boundary before the left-armer was taken out of the attack.
Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq survived Rabada and Jansen’s opening spell before South Africa captain Aiden Markram turned to his spinners inside the first hour.
Harmer provided the breakthrough when he bowled Imam for 17 with a ball that spun sharply away from the left-hander and hit the top of off-stump.
“Bit frustrating, but no one means to drop chances,” Maharaj said. “It was nice to see the guys bounce back and take the catches that they did. It was an even-stevens day, I felt if we got one more wicket at night we’d probably have had a little bit of an upper hand.” Maharaj was available only for the second test because he was recovering from groin injury. He replaced off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen in one of the two changes the World Test Championship winners made to their XI.
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Seaming all-rounder Jansen returned in place of Wiaan Mulder, who bowled only two overs in the first test and struggled against spinners in both innings while batting at No. 3.
Pakistan also beefed up its spin department and included a third specialist slow bowler by awarding a test debut to 38-year-old left-arm spinner Asif Afridi, who replaced Hasan Ali.
